Augusta attractions

Augusta's got it all

February 1, 2013 - 12:16 pm

Getting tired of the action on the greens? Don't worry, not every local site is related to golf. Augusta is full of history and these attractions are proof. Here are some of the places that Augustans show guests when they come to town.

At the Augusta Canal National Heritage Area Interpretive Center at Enterprise Mill you'll learn the stories of people, progress and promise of a unique piece of American history. The Canal Interpretive Center that tells the story of how a city used its waterways to reinvent itself and define its destiny. The Center has been developed by the Augusta Canal Authority in partnership with the National Park Service.

The Augusta Museum of History is dedicated to collecting, preserving and interpreting history in relation to the past of Augusta and its environs for the education and enrichment of present and future generations.

The Augusta Riverwalk is located directly on the beautiful Savannah River. Take a stroll down the shaded sidewalks of the riverwalk that line the Savannah River and enjoy what downtown Augusta has to offer.

The cool breeze from the Savannah River provides the perfect place for a picnic or go for a stroll under the shade trees.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as the 28th President of the United States on March 4, 1913. His two-term administration was among the most notable in U.S. history. In 1917, during his second term, the United States entered the First World War and Wilson played an international role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Versailles and the organization of the League of Nations.

"Tommy" Wilson (1856-1924) spent the formative years of his childhood in Augusta, years that would affect him for the rest of his life. While living in Augusta Wilson experienced the hardships of the Civil War and Reconstruction. He also began his education, tasted leadership as president of the Lightfoot Baseball Club, and grounded his deep Presbyterian faith.

Brick Pond Park is a forty acre restored wetland, stormwater treatment system, and public nature park. Walking trails wind throughout the wetlands and below the canopy of the forested areas. The park walking trails allow visitors up close encounters with the wildlife that live there. This includes alligators, deer, river otters, over 111 species of birds (visit throughout the year), turtles, frogs, fish, and more.

At the beginning of the Civil War gunpowder supplies for the Confederate armies were insufficient. In 1861 Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, charged Colonel George Washington Rains with solving this issue by creating a local supply of gunpowder. Rains chose the flat lands by the Augusta Canal as the most suitable site for making the much needed gunpowder. He named Major Charles Shaler Smith as architect to design the Confederate Powder Works.

The Confederate Powder Works, the only permanent edifice constructed by the Confederate States of America, was in operation until April 1865.

The Federal Government confiscated the powder works land and sold it between 1868 and 1871. By 1872, the buildings and structures remaining were deemed useless, and a project to widen the canal caused the demolition of most. At the request of Rains, the smokestack was left standing as a memorial to those who fought for the Confederacy.

The mission of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Museum and Fort Gordon is to function as a permanent historical and educational institution at Fort Gordon, providing training and education to the soldiers, military dependents at Fort Gordon and to the general public on all aspects of the history of the Signal Corps, the development of Fort Gordon and vicinity, and the U.S. Army.

The Lucy Craft Laney Museum is the only African American Museum in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA, Augusta and its Surrounding Areas). The museum, which opened in 1991, is a small house museum that was the former home of Lucy Craft Laney.

Lucy Craft Laney, one of the most influential educators in Georgia, called Augusta home until her death in 1933.

Magnolia Cemetery, located between Second and Third streets on Augusta's east side is the resting place for hundreds of Civil War dead, including seven Confederate generals. There is a section dedicated to 183 Union prisoners of war who died in the Augusta area, too.

The Crape Myrtle tree, located at the dead end of Third Street, is said to be classed as the oldest tree in the State of Georgia.

The Morris Museum of Art, located on the Riverwalk in downtown Augusta, Georgia, is the first museum dedicated to the art and artists of the American South. The collection includes holdings of nearly 5,000 paintings, works on paper, photographs, and sculptures dating from the late-eighteenth century to the present. In addition to the permanent collection galleries, the museum hosts eight to ten temporary special exhibitions every year.

The museum also houses the Center for the Study of Southern Art, a reference and research library that includes archives pertaining to artists working in the South.

Tours include a self guided tour through the Augusta Museum of History and a driving tour through historic Downtown Augusta that departs from the Augusta Museum of History at 2 p.m. Reservations are required at least 24 hours prior. All seats are $12 and depart from the Augusta Visitor Center.

Elvis fans have Graceland. Baseball fans have Cooperstown. Laurel and Hardy fans flock to Harlem, Ga. Oliver Hardy, the rotund half of one of Hollywood's most famous comedic duos, was born in Harlem in 1892, and the city established a museum to honor Hardy and his partner, Stan Laurel.

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